I was completely ready to react to the title of this article, saying that Maybe people like things, and why isn't that okay or something like it. But the article basically said that, and so much...
I was completely ready to react to the title of this article, saying that Maybe people like things, and why isn't that okay or something like it.
But the article basically said that, and so much nicer and better. Great read, thanks! Maybe I'll go make me a rage comic..
As cringey as it is, I think "epic bacon" is the perfect name. I can't think of any two words I read more often on the internet at that time. To be honest, I'm glad that some of those trends have...
Don Caldwell, managing editor of the meme-history database KnowYourMeme, calls it the “epic bacon” period — internet humor at its most naive and sincere. “It’s seen as cringeworthy now, or ‘What were people thinking?’” he explains. “That’s what people associate it with.”
As cringey as it is, I think "epic bacon" is the perfect name. I can't think of any two words I read more often on the internet at that time. To be honest, I'm glad that some of those trends have died out, but I do miss the internet culture of that time. The internet was so much smaller, and not nearly as ubiquitous as it is today.
Sure, just about everyone had visited the internet, but there was a sort of community within that group. Like the regulars at a small bar, before the area got gentrified and the bar became a local hotspot. That's not to say the change is bad (I'd argue it's mostly good change), but it does make me nostalgic for an internet with fewer users, more intentional interactions, and less bullshit.
When are we talking? I've been saying the same thing since about 2000. I've been using the internet in one form or another since around 1992, if not a bit earlier. I've honestly given up caring...
To be honest, I'm glad that some of those trends have died out, but I do miss the internet culture of that time. The internet was so much smaller, and not nearly as ubiquitous as it is today.
When are we talking? I've been saying the same thing since about 2000. I've been using the internet in one form or another since around 1992, if not a bit earlier. I've honestly given up caring what happens to the internet - with the exception of a handful of websites (here, HN which I'm very much a lurker, couple of news sites) and the odd service (Spotify, Google Maps in reality) I really don't use it much any more. It's a different beast entirely from "back in the day". It is what it is now, there's no going back.
I've got little to no interest in sharing content (images, comments, videos, whatever people are sharing) on platforms such as instagram, facebook, twitter etc. because it has no real benefit to me and it all just feels like a massive vacuum.
Tildes actually feels like a proper community because it is small. When you've got 2 billion people (Facebook) or however many on Instagram or Reddit (hundreds of millions?).. they're not communities any more, they're monoliths and you're trying to become noticeable in someway otherwise your contribution has little worth.
i always kinda think of it along the lines of sterilization; a lot of what contributed to the sorta "weirdness" of the pre-social-media-dominance internet that made it feel like a community and...
Sure, just about everyone had visited the internet, but there was a sort of community within that group. Like the regulars at a small bar, before the area got gentrified and the bar became a local hotspot. That's not to say the change is bad (I'd argue it's mostly good change), but it does make me nostalgic for an internet with fewer users, more intentional interactions, and less bullshit.
i always kinda think of it along the lines of sterilization; a lot of what contributed to the sorta "weirdness" of the pre-social-media-dominance internet that made it feel like a community and contributed to long-term phenomena like rage comics was also just not compatible with an audience of people which actually tracks with the makeup of the general population, and so when social media really took off those things were the first things to either be stripped away from existing sites or marginalized to the point where they disappeared completely--or, in some few and far between cases, survived but hang on by perilous threads even now. (we will probably never see personalization options on "major" websites like they existed in the late-2000s and very early-2010s, for example, because the general population mostly just wants a consistent and clean experience and has no real need for features like that. of the major social media websites, tumblr is basically the last bastion of that particular pinnacle of user expression and tumblr isn't in the best hands or straits right now.)
I was completely ready to react to the title of this article, saying that Maybe people like things, and why isn't that okay or something like it.
But the article basically said that, and so much nicer and better. Great read, thanks! Maybe I'll go make me a rage comic..
As cringey as it is, I think "epic bacon" is the perfect name. I can't think of any two words I read more often on the internet at that time. To be honest, I'm glad that some of those trends have died out, but I do miss the internet culture of that time. The internet was so much smaller, and not nearly as ubiquitous as it is today.
Sure, just about everyone had visited the internet, but there was a sort of community within that group. Like the regulars at a small bar, before the area got gentrified and the bar became a local hotspot. That's not to say the change is bad (I'd argue it's mostly good change), but it does make me nostalgic for an internet with fewer users, more intentional interactions, and less bullshit.
When are we talking? I've been saying the same thing since about 2000. I've been using the internet in one form or another since around 1992, if not a bit earlier. I've honestly given up caring what happens to the internet - with the exception of a handful of websites (here, HN which I'm very much a lurker, couple of news sites) and the odd service (Spotify, Google Maps in reality) I really don't use it much any more. It's a different beast entirely from "back in the day". It is what it is now, there's no going back.
I've got little to no interest in sharing content (images, comments, videos, whatever people are sharing) on platforms such as instagram, facebook, twitter etc. because it has no real benefit to me and it all just feels like a massive vacuum.
Tildes actually feels like a proper community because it is small. When you've got 2 billion people (Facebook) or however many on Instagram or Reddit (hundreds of millions?).. they're not communities any more, they're monoliths and you're trying to become noticeable in someway otherwise your contribution has little worth.
i always kinda think of it along the lines of sterilization; a lot of what contributed to the sorta "weirdness" of the pre-social-media-dominance internet that made it feel like a community and contributed to long-term phenomena like rage comics was also just not compatible with an audience of people which actually tracks with the makeup of the general population, and so when social media really took off those things were the first things to either be stripped away from existing sites or marginalized to the point where they disappeared completely--or, in some few and far between cases, survived but hang on by perilous threads even now. (we will probably never see personalization options on "major" websites like they existed in the late-2000s and very early-2010s, for example, because the general population mostly just wants a consistent and clean experience and has no real need for features like that. of the major social media websites, tumblr is basically the last bastion of that particular pinnacle of user expression and tumblr isn't in the best hands or straits right now.)